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Meeting Timeline
While by law the Regents are required to meet at least once a year in Washington, DC, in practice they hold four meetings per year. Meetings are scheduled a year or more in advance, usually on Mondays, in January, April, June, and September. The meetings ordinarily begin at 9:00 a.m. and are concluded by 4:00 p.m. Included are the Regents, the Secretary and his management team, a court reporter, and liaison assistants to the Congressional and ex officio Regents. The meetings are closed to the general public and news media by Regents' resolution since 1846. Most Regents attend the meetings as there is by policy no provision for proxies.
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Meeting Procedures
The Regents' meetings are formal sessions based on agendas furnished to the Regents in advance. Management drafts agendas for consideration by the Board's Executive Committee at a meeting in advance of the Regents' meeting. Once approved by the Executive Committee, agenda papers are distributed to the Regents within one or two working days. Routine actions proposed for the Regents' consideration are placed in a Proposed Consent and Information section of the agenda that is voted en bloc immediately after the Chancellor's Call to Order. The next section deals with Information and Actions with Potential Policy Implications. Finally, agenda items requiring real deliberation, including reports of Regents' committees and the Secretary's reports, are presented in a Proposed Discussion and Resolution section. Most Regents' resolutions are incorporated into the agenda papers distributed in advance of the meeting and are adopted by voice vote. Assistants to the Congressional constitute a Regents' Liaison Group which meets with the Secretary's management team a few days prior to each of the Regents' meetings to discuss the agenda.
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Governing Responsibilities
The Board of Regents is vested with authorities that are generally given to boards of trustees of not-for-profit and educational institutions throughout the nation. Typically, each year the Board considers for approval the Institution's budgets and planning documents, proposed new programs and construction, appointments to Smithsonian advisory boards, legislative initiatives, and a host of additional matters less easily categorized but falling within their general oversight responsibilities. In addition, the Regents regularly discuss a wide variety of significant pan-Institutional and programmatic developments, such as equal-employment initiatives, program and financial audits, litigation, personnel matters, and building repair and renovation, among others.
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The Secretary
The Board is also responsible for the appointment of a chief executive officer, known as the Secretary, who is in charge of the management of the Institution and serves at the pleasure of the Board. Ultimately, though, it is the Board of Regents that is responsible for Smithsonian collections and property, their acquisition and disposal.
The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution serves as secretary to the Board—but is not a member of it—and is responsible for keeping records of the Regents' actions. As the chief executive officer of the Institution, and by specific delegations of authority from the Regents, he is authorized to employ assistants and to undertake certain financial arrangements. With the Regents' consent he selects his principal advisors and assistants to help him manage the executive direction of the Institution.
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Regents' Expenses
The statute, as well as traditions of not-for-profit organizations, provides for the conditions of members' service on the Board of Regents. Members serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for their expenses in attending meetings on behalf of the Smithsonian. In practice, the majority of the Regents do not ask for reimbursement of their expenses for travel. Spousal travel is not reimbursed.
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